What Happened in ‘Cobra Kai’ Season 5? Refresh Your Memory Before the Final Season

“Strike First. Strike Hard. No Mercy.” It has been nearly two years since fans have heard the famous mantra in new episodes of Netflix‘s smash hit karate series Cobra Kai. But the wait is almost over. William Zabka, Ralph Macchio, and the rest of the main cast are all set to return to portray their iconic characters one last time in the final season of the comedy-drama series.

Created by Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald, Cobra Kai was initially a YouTube Originals series for the first two seasons before moving to Netflix, where it found greater success with a larger audience. Its clever expansion on the decades-long rivalry between The Karate Kid‘s Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso along with its action-packed fight scenes and familial values stole the hearts of older and younger generations alike. But like all good things, Cobra Kai is coming to an end. Netflix announced Season 6 will be the last season with its 15-episode run premiering in a three part event. The first five episodes will premiere on July 18; the second five will premiere on November 28; and the final five episodes will premiere in 2025.

Now that we know Part 1’s release date, sit back, kick back (pun intended!), and relax as we refresh your memory on everything that happened in Cobra Kai Season 5.

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The Karate War Continues

Episode 1 of Season 5 reflects the familial theme of the season with Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) searching for his father in Mexico. Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) travels to Mexico, too, with his son, Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan), to find Miguel and bring him back home. Miguel finds his father, who seems like a good guy at first, but he later learns he’s a drug lord. Johnny and Robby eventually reunite with Miguel, who ends up calling his mother, Carmen (Vanessa Rubio) to apologize. Miguel makes up with Johnny and realizes that he is the father he never had.

Back in the Valley, Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) has closed Miyagi-Do karate due to the deal he made with Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) at the end of Season 4: Whoever loses the All-Valley Tournament must shut down their dojo. Since Cobra Kai won in the Season 4 finale, Miyagi-Do as well as Johnny’s dojo, Eagle Fang, have shut down. But the war is far from over. Daniel and Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) still want to protect the kids from Silver, the main villain of the season, and try to recruit Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) from The Karate Kid Part III to help. Mike, who now owns a furniture store, agrees. Unfortunately, Terry is one step ahead and burns down Mike’s furniture store, taking him off the table.

At home, Daniel receives a mysterious newspaper clip about John Kreese (Martin Kove) being found guilty for the assault of Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser). In Season 4, Silver beat up Stingray and framed Kreese for it so he could take over Cobra Kai. Silver bought Stingray off by gifting him Johnny’s old Cobra Kai car and a new apartment, so when Daniel confronts him about the assault, Stingray says nothing. It turns out it was Tory Nichols (Peyton List) who sent Daniel that note since she’s working undercover for Kreese while he’s in prison. Kreese convinces her to stay with Cobra Kai after winning the All-Valley so he can get revenge on Silver.

Meanwhile, the karate love square between Miguel, Robby, Tory, and Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) is still in shambles. Even though Miguel and Samantha got back together last season, Samantha changes her mind and tells Miguel she needs time for herself and asks to be just friends. Robby and Tory are also having problems as Robby now sees Cobra Kai is evil and wants Tory to leave, too. Tory isn’t ready to leave yet, so they break up as well.

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Even though the older kids are sick of the karate war, the younger generation is keeping it alive. Anthony LaRusso (Griffin Santopietro) is bullying new kid Kenny Payne (Dallas Dupree Young) until Kenny learns karate from Robby and turns the tables on Anthony. Kenny’s mentor, Robby, tries to tell him that Cobra Kai is evil, but Kenny doesn’t want to hear it. Thus, the karate war is back on and original rivals Robby and Miguel are fighting again.

Johnny doesn’t want Robby and Miguel fighting anymore since he found out his girlfriend (and Miguel’s mother) Carmen is pregnant and he’s going to be a father soon. Johnny is committed to being a better father for his unborn child than he was to Robby so he needs his son and his karate son to work things out once and for all. Miguel and Robby fight one last time and end it to finally talk out their issues, squashing their beef.

Silver’s Plan Revealed: The Sekai Taikai

During this season, Silver recruits new senseis so he can take over the whole Valley with Cobra Kai. It’s now up to Daniel and Johnny (who have combined dojos and joined forces), in addition to the rest of the main characters including Miguel, Robby, Samantha, and Hawk (Jacob Bertrand), to take Silver and Cobra Kai down forever. However, Tory is the only main character who is still with Cobra Kai along with new supporting characters Kenny and Tory’s mentee, Devon Lee (Oona O’Brien).

We later learn that Silver’s master plan goes beyond conquering the Valley — it’s to take Cobra Kai international by winning the world’s karate tournament known as the Sekai Taikai. Miyagi-Do decides to enter as well, though there is some confusion regarding the name of the dojo since merging with Eagle Fang. But Daniel and Johnny manage to masterfully combine the peaceful style of Miyagi-Do with the aggressive style of Eagle Fang and create Miyagi-Fang. Since both dojos can’t enter the tournament, Cobra Kai has to fight against Miyagi-Fang to decide who will win the spot. Newcomer Kenny fights against Hawk and wins. But Tory notices that Silver pays off the ref, just like he did at the end of Season 4, and mysteriously disappears. Next, Samantha fights new girl Devon and wins so definitively that even the corrupt ref has to give her the point. So with Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Fang each getting a win, the Sekai Taikai decides to let both dojos enter the tournament.

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Coming Clean

That night, Tory tells the truth to Samantha about Silver bribing the ref at the All-Valley tournament in the Season 4 finale. The two finally talk things out and end their feud. Miguel, Hawk, Samantha, Robby, Tory, and Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) team up to break into the Cobra Kai dojo to get the security camera footage proof of Silver’s cheating. But right when they are about to get it, Cobra Kai catches them red-handed. So once again, it is time for a huge karate brawl.

Meanwhile, Daniel, Johnny, Carmen, Chozen, and Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) have a night out on the town where, after years of intense rivalry, Daniel and Johnny finally work out their issues. Everyone’s having a fun time until their car is suddenly hijacked by none other than Mike Barnes, who blames Daniel for ruining his life since Silver burned down his furniture store earlier in the season. Daniel convinces Mike that it was Silver’s fault, which gives Mike the idea to break into Silver’s house to beat him up. Johnny and Chozen agree to get revenge with Mike but Daniel doesn’t, so he is left stranded on the street and Carmen and Amanda go home.

How Did Season 5 End?

In the Season 5 finale, Mike, Johnny, and Chozen break into Silver’s house to find that he is accompanied by his numerous senseis. A huge fight breaks out between the men and the senseis, and things aren’t looking too good. Mike is taken out in one hit and Johnny is almost beat. However, when Johnny is about to surrender, a picture of his unborn child falls out of his pocket and he remembers he is fighting for a reason: family. He then uses his newfound strength to take out all of the senseis. Outside, Chozen and Silver fight one-on-one using samurais. While Chozen has the upper hand for most of the fight, Silver goes for the kill and slices Chozen’s back, leaving him unconscious and bleeding profusely.

While chaos unfolds, Stingray — who is ready to come clean about the assault — gives Daniel a ride to Cobra Kai. Just as he arrives, the video finishes uploading and is cast to the TV, exposing how Silver cheated at the All-Valley to his students. Silver also arrives at the dojo and gets into a final fight with Daniel. Daniel ends up defeating Silver with a flying crane kick and the Cobra Kai students lose all respect for Silver.

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All is seemingly good in the Valley. Cobra Kai turns to the good side and everyone makes up. Miguel and Sam realize they love each other and get back together, as do Tory and Robby. Moreover, Chozen is shown alive and Stingray tells the police that it was Silver, not Kreese, who assaulted him, leading to Silver’s arrest.

Just when things are starting to look up, the finale ends with one final plot twist. During a prison fight, Kreese gets shanked and is sent to the ER. While the doctor is examining Kreese’s blood, he smells something strange. It turns out it isn’t blood — it’s jello! Kreese wakes up from his “coma” and beats up the doctor and all the guards. Afterwards, he puts on the doctor’s coat and escapes prison.

That’s everything that happened in Cobra Kai Season 5. Though the series coming to an end is bittersweet, it will live on in our hearts forever because as we all know…Cobra Kai Never Dies.

Cobra Kai, Season 6 Part 1 Premiere, Thursday, July 18, Netflix

Cobra Kai, Season 6 Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, November 28, Netflix

Cobra Kai, Season 6 Part 3 Premiere, 2025, Netflix